KUALA LUMPUR (March 19): While the majority of the FBM KLCI has declined over the past few days, several counters saw bigger drops, which open up the opportunity for investors to buy into these particular stocks.

The year-to-date declines in these stocks exceeded the fall in the benchmark index itself, which has fallen 23.9%, amid the market turmoil sweeping the globe.

Leading the bargain blue chips is Genting Bhd, which is largely seen to be significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, by virtue of its gaming and hotel businesses. Its subsidiary, Genting Malaysia, declined 39.6% during the same period.

Genting has wiped out about half of its share price since the start of the year, down 50.6% to RM2.92 as at the noon market break today.

The impact of the outbreak on travelling and tourism has affected the outlook for Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd, resulting in a 46.8% drop in the airport operator’s share price year-to-date. The counter was trading at RM4.04 at the time of writing.

Besides Covid-19, the markets were also roiled by the plunge in crude oil prices amid a price war sparked by Saudi Arabia, as the OPEC+ talks with Russia had failed to come to an agreement.

The fire incident at Pengerang earlier this week did not help the sentiment either, as Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd’s share price faced selling pressure, falling 44.4% year-to-date to RM4.04.

Another counter that has seen more than a third of its share price wiped out since the start of the year is Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, which has fallen 40.4% to RM2.77.

An analyst noted that Press Metal’s plants in Peninsular Malaysia are slated to close during the partial lockdown period, although its smelting plant in Samalaju has been given the green light to continue operations.

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers had previously said that manufacturers with kiln and smelting facilities in the metals industry may face hefty costs as these manufacturers are highly sensitive to sudden shutdowns and restarts, and added that the movement restriction order is “too drastic”.

Meanwhile, banking stocks have been hammered by both the Covid-19 situation as well as the decline in the oil and gas industry, with CIMB Group Holdings Bhd recording the biggest decline among the financial institutions year-to-date. 

The bank has fallen 39.6% to trade at RM3.11 currently, followed by Public Bank Bhd (down 35.2%), Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (down 31.3%) and Hong Leong Bank Bhd (down 31.1%).

In a note today, AmInvestment Bank research analyst Kelvin Ong said there could be further downside risk to the net interest income and net interest margin (NIM) of banks, if there is another 25bps cut in the overnight policy rate (OPR) in May this year.

Another rate cut would impact banks’ earnings by between 1% and 2%, he said, while NIMs of most banks will be impacted by 2bps to 4bps.